Readers:

In the last issue I brought up that I was going to my
doctor for a check-up and a three month A1C blood test.
Well, my appointment actually isn’t until the middle of
next month. Oops! I guess we will just have to wait until
next month.

In the meantime, learn about how inadequate sleep can
affect your diabetes, check out the article on Heart-
healthy Diets, and don’t forget to try out the recipe
for a Peach-Banana Smoothie.

Regards,
Steve

Concerned about your health? Evtv1.com has videos for you!
Health Videos

————————————————————

Not Enough Shut-eye May Raise Diabetes Risk

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – An inadequate amount of nightly
sleep on a recurring basis, coupled with a sedentary life-
style and overeating, may fuel the development of diabetes,
results of a new study hint.

“Our findings suggest that combining the unhealthy aspects
of the Westernized lifestyle with insufficient sleep may
add to the risk of overweight and sedentary individuals to
develop diabetes,” Dr. Plamen Penev, of the University of
Chicago, Illinois, and a senior author of the study, told
Reuters Health.

Penev and colleagues subjected 11 healthy but sedentary
middle-aged men and women to two 14-day periods of
sedentary living with free access to food and either
5.5 hours or 8.5 hours of sleep each night.

As nightly sleep times changed from 8.5 to 5.5 hours, the
participants went to bed later and got out of bed earlier
and, as a result, average sleep duration was reduced by
about two hours a day.

When the adults had their bedtimes decreased from a
healthy 8.5 hours to 5.5 hours they showed changes in
their response to two common sugar tests, which were
similar to those seen in people with an increased risk
of developing diabetes.

“If confirmed by future larger studies,” Penev told Reuters
Health, “these results would indicate that a healthy life-
style should include not only healthy eating habits and
adequate amounts of physical activity, but also obtaining
a sufficient amount of sleep.”

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism,
September 2009.

Copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.

————————————————————

Heart-healthy Diet May Help Ward Off Diabetes

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Sticking to the so-called DASH
diet may protect adults from developing type 2 diabetes,
new research shows.

DASH is short for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension.
The DASH diet is high in fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy
products, and whole grains, resulting in high potassium,
magnesium, calcium, and fiber consumption. It is also
moderately high in protein consumption, and low in total
and saturated fat consumption.

It’s been shown that the DASH can reduce blood pressure,
but less is known about the potential influence of this
dietary pattern on diabetes development.

To investigate, Dr. Angela D. Liese, of the University
of South Carolina, Columbia, and colleagues studied 862
adults participating in a clinical trial. About one in
six of them developed type 2 diabetes over the five
years of study follow-up.

Among white patients, but not among black or Hispanic
subjects, sticking to the DASH diet was found to offer
some protection against the development of type 2
diabetes, the researchers found.

“The composition of the DASH diet pattern with its emphasis
on vegetables, fruit, low-fat dairy products, nuts, seeds,
and whole grains and its limits on meat, poultry, eggs,
fats, and oils certainly makes this a likely candidate for
diabetes prevention,” Liese and colleagues conclude in the
journal Diabetes Care.

The findings, they add, are consistent with other studies
“suggesting a beneficial effect of increased dairy, whole
grain, and nuts on diabetic risk.”

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, August 2009.

Copyright Reuters Limited.

————————————————————

Diabetic Recipe

Peach-Banana Smoothie

(makes 2 servings)

1/2 cup (56 g) peeled, chopped fresh peaches

1 ripe banana, peeled and cut into chunks

1/2 cup (120 ml) unsweetened pineapple juice

1/4 cup (35 g) fat-free, no sugar added vanilla ice cream

1. In a food processor or blender, combine all ingredients.
Blend until smooth.

2. Pour into 2 tall glasses and serve.

Per Serving: 128 calories (2% calories from fat),
2 g protein, trace total fat (0.1 g saturated
fat), 32 g carbohydrate, 2 g dietary fiber,
0 cholesterol, 18 mg sodium

Diabetic Exchanges: 2 carbohydrate (2 fruit)

Copyright Diabetic-Lifestyle.

————————————————————